Key tag and advertising device



I June 25, 1929.

K. A. JAMES KEY TAG AND ADVERTISING DVICE Filed Aug. 5, 1926 MILLIMANHOTEL IRON MOUNTAIN MICHIGAN Q-I-P Patented June 25., 1929.

UNITED STATES KENNETH ALVIN JAMES, 0F MONTFORT, WSCONSIN.

KEY TAG AND ADVERTSING DEVICE.

Application led August 5, 1926.

This invention relates to hotel or otherhouse room keys, such as thoseordinarily provided with a tag bearing the number of the room.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a key andtag having provisions for advertising matter on the tag, so that it willform a combined room indicator and advertising device, whereby the hotelmanagement may sell advertising space to different business concerns, orso that the hotel may have its room key tags furnished to it free ofcharge by those who wish to advertise thereon, or whereby theadvertising facilities afforded by a room keytag of this kind may betaken advantage of in other ways.

To these and other useful ends, the invention consists in mattershereinafter' set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanyingdrawings in which- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a key and taginvolving the principles of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2-2 in Fig. 1.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a hotel room or other housekey 1 of any suitable or desired character. The tag comprises oppositeside walls 2 having openings or spaces 8 therein, as shown, and providedwith tabs 4 at the top having an eye 5, as shown. The cards 6 bearingthe advertising, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, are insertedbetween the side walls 2, so that the advertising will be exposed toview by the openings or spaces 3 previously mentioned. The tag bears thenumber 7 of the room, or any other room indication, and a stiffeningplate 8 is inserted between the two cards 6 as shown, whereby theoutside of the tag may be made of leather or other flexible material andheld stiliiy in flat condition. A link 9 connects the key with the tag,the hook 10 of said link being inserted through the eye 5 of the tag andthen bent into shape as shown, to prevent removal of the tag therefrom.In this way, the advertising matter is practically locked in the tag sothat the user of the key will not be liable to' remove the advertising.However, when the advertising is to be changed, and when it is necessaryto remove the cards 6, the hook 10 can be bent by tools to permitremoval of the tag therefrom, and after the desired change inadvertising matter has been accomplished, the tag can then beV recon-Serial No. 127,266.

nected to the key in the manner4 shown and described.

It will be understood, of course, that any suitable materials can beemployed for the tag, and that the key Vand tag can be connectedtogether in any suitable or desired manner, without departing from thespirit of the invention.

In any event, however, the invention provides an improved combinedhotelor other room key or house key having a tag which serves as acombined room indicatorI and adc, vertising device. This can be takenadvantage of, of course, in various ways. For ez;- ample, the proprietorof the hotel or other house can sell advertising space on room keys andmay derive a profit therefrom. On the other'hand, and as another exampleofv the utility of the invention, manufacturers of various things canmake the keys and tags in accordance with the invention, and thenpresent them without charge to hotels or other houses that will usethem, so that the hotels or other houses will have key tags that costthem nothing, in return for the advertising privileges accordedk thedonors of the key tags. n some cases the advertising might be a fixtureon thekey tag, but in other cases it may be desirable to change theadvertising, from time to time, and the invention can be used indifferent ways, of course, without departing from the spirit of theinvention. V

It will be seen that the room number 7, and the name of the house orhotel immediately above, are provided on the upper portion 4 of the tag,and cannot be separated therefrom. In this way, and by using a tool orinstrument to distort the link 9, the advertising matter can be removed,but such removal does not disturb the name and room indication on thetag. Consequently the advertising can only be removed by firstseparating the key from the tag, as the advertising can only be removedfrom the upper end of the tag, and cannot possibly be removed from thebottom or side edges of the tag.

It will be seen that the space between the opposing walls 2 is closedall around, at all edges of the tag except at one end thereof where thekey is attached thereto, this open end having ieXible portions 4 thatprovide an entrance between them for the insertion of the advertisingmatter between the walls of the tag. Normally, with the iexible portions4 in position as shown, the advertising is non-removable, but the metalattaching means 9 and l0 are suitably flexible and can be flexed topermit the portions 4 to be moved away from each other to permit removalof the advertising` matter and insertion thereof, when such is necessaryor desirable.

It will be seen, therefore, that the invention is primarily anadvertising device and only secondarily a key tag, and the new connstruction and new combination have that object in view, and are intendedto open up and perfect a new channel of advertising.

This is the first time that an advertising device has been provided inwhich the advertising cannot be removed or changed ex cept by flexingthe link connection between the tag and key.

Without disclaiming anything, and without prejudice to any noveltydisclosed, what I claim as my invention is:

l. An advertising device comprising a hotel room or other house key, atag body having an upper port-ion having` freely flexible ends and apermanent or non-removable indication of the name of the house and roomthereon, sothat the tag body and room indication cannot becomeseparated, flexible metal means to so connect the said upper portion ofthe tag body to the key that the tag and key are normally inseparablylinked together and can only be separated by using tools to bend saidmetal means, forming a foldable connection permitting` the key to befolded back upon either side of the tag, whereby the key and its roomnumber are inseparable except by forcible` breakage or distortion ofsaid linking means and means to provide normally non-removableadvertising on said tag body, below said indication, removable only byflexing said link connection and by flexing said upper ends but withanda stiffening plate inserted between said cards, engaging said linkconnection and held in place thereby.

2. An advertising device comprising a hotel room or other house key, atag body having an upper portion having a permanent or non-removableindication o-f the name of the house and room thereon, means to soconnect the said upper portion of the tag to the keyvthat the key andtag are linked together and can only be separated by using tools,forming a foldable connection permitting the key to be folded back uponeither side of the tag, and means to provide removable advertising onsaid tag body, below said indication, removable without disturbing` saidname and room indication on the tag body, whereby the tag and key form acombined room indicator and advertising device, said tag body comprisingopposite walls with openings therein, cards with the advertisingremovably inserted between said walls, with said advertising exposed toview by said openings, and a stiffening plate inserted between saidcards, engaging said link .connection Vand held in place thereby. c

Specification signed this 31st day ofJuly, 1926.

KENNETH ALVIN JAMES.

